Torghut Migration

Last updated
Kalmyk Exodus to Dzungaria
Part of Kalmyk-Russian Wars, Kazakh-Kalmyk Wars
Kalmyk exodus (Geoffroy, 1845).JPG
Kalmyk exodus to Dzungaria. Engraving by Charles Michel Geoffroy, 1845.
Date1771
Location
Volga river, Emba river, Yaik river, Or, Sagyz rivers, Aktobe Region, Turgai River, Karaganda Region, Lake Balkhash, Russia and Kazakhstan
Result
Territorial
changes		 Annexation of the Kalmyk Khanate
Belligerents
Flag of the Kalmyk Khanate.svg Kalmyk Khanate Flag of Russia.svg Russian Empire
Supported by:
Kazakh Khanate
Commanders and leaders
Flag of the Kalmyk Khanate.svg Ubashi Khan
Flag of the Kalmyk Khanate.svg Various princes		Russian Empire:
Catherine the Great
Flag of Russia.svg General von Traubenberg
Flag of Russia.svg Pirogov
Flag of Russia.svg Goglazin  †
Kazakh Khanate:
Nurali Khan
Ablai Khan
Yaman-Kary
Aiguvak
Jamankur (POW)
Janatai Batyr  †
Arkandar  †
Uysunbay
Strength
Flag of the Kalmyk Khanate.svg10,000 [3] [6] [2] [10] Flag of Russia.svg 7,000 [11] 50,000 batyrs [2]
Casualties and losses
Flag of the Kalmyk Khanate.svg:
100,000(civilian) [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [a]
Heavy(military) [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [a] 		Flag of Russia.svg : Heavy [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [a]

Torghut Migration or Kalmyk Exodus to Dzungaria (sometimes spelled Dusty Trek or Torgutsky Trek) is a mass migration in 1771 of Kalmyks, among who were mostly Torghuts, from the Volga River of the Russian Empire to the Qing Empire's Dzungaria in 1771. [12] [2] [3] [8]

Contents

Background

During the Final conquest of Dzungaria, Dzungar genocide resulted with around 400 thousand Dzungar Mongolians or about the 70%–80% of the Dzungar population perishing in the process [13] [14] from both warfare and disease) and from that an emergence of refugees in the Kalmyk Khanate who agitated for the restoration of the Dzungar Khanate. One of the main proponents of migration to Dzungaria was Tsebek Dorji.

During the reigns of the khans Dondog taiyishi and Ubashi, the Russian government began to pursue a policy of limiting the khan's authority. In the 1760s, crisises intensified in the Kalmyk Khanate, associated with the colonization of lands by Russian landowners and peasants, the reduction of pasture lands, the infringement of the rights of the ruling elite, and the interference of the tsarist administration in Kalmyk affairs. [2]

The resettlement was prepared during 1767–1770 by the Torghut and Khoshut noyons, as well as the highest Buddhist clergy, who made an astrological forecast, determining a favorable year and month for the resettlement. In the autumn of 1770, Ubashi, returning from the Caucasian front of the Russo-Turkish War, held a meeting with various princes, they had agreed to "leave Russia and return to the east to the homeland," deciding to begin action in the following year, 1771. [15]

Course of Migration and Conflicts

On January 5, 1771, the noyons, led by the young governor of the Kalmyk Khanate — Ubashi, [16] roused the uluses roaming along the left bank of the Volga and began their migration to their historical homeland, Dzungaria. The Kalmyks (primarily Dörbets) were unable or unwilling to join the migration. The Russian government's reaction was relatively mild. Remembering the Kalmyks' past services to the Russian empire, the military officials sent merely begged them to remain. Thus, the Erketenevsky ulus was stopped. [16]

Later, they had entered the Yaik river, The Yaik cossacks of the Vetlyaninskaya stanitsa, Goglazin, was killed in a floodplain along with several Cossacks. The Kalmyks killed, plundered, and burned everything they came across. [17] The case file shows that in five places (the bazaar at the governor's house, Mitinsky, Nikolaevskaya Sloboda, from the colonists and Krasnoyarsk residents), goods, money, and livestock worth 607,945 rubles 25 kopecks were taken; 13 were killed, 102 were taken prisoner, 32 were wounded, and 8 people were missing. The Erketenevsky ulus, nomadic near Tsaritsyn, plundered the market and captured its people. When the ulus was repulsed from the general masses and returned from the Yaik, all those captured at the market were killed to prevent their involvement in the plundering. Krasnoyarsk commandant Pirogov reported on January 8 and 9 that Kalmyks were plundering gangs and threatening the city. Forty-four Yaik Cossacks, who had been fishing at Uzen, were all killed, and only one, Gavriil Chumakov, survived and returned. [18]

On January 27, to counter the migration of the Kalmyks, the government of Ca therine II sent a circular to the Yaik Cossacks, the governor of Orenburg, and the khans of the subject Kazakh jüzes, Nurali Khan demanded Russian cannons and a dragoon regiment to stop the Kalmyk advance and General von Traubenberg, in his report to the government, indicated that leaving Russian artillery and a dragoon regiment to assist Khan Nurali would mean their certain death, and was skeptical about the ability of the irregular militia of the Kazakh khans to independently, without the support of Russian troops, stop the Kalmyk army, which, according to him, with its own artillery and the combat experience of a regular army, would freely advance into the territory of its former nomadic camps in Dzungaria. [19]

On February 18, the Ubashi's Kalmyks reached the banks of the Emba River. A peaceful rest on the Emba lasted until March 15, the Kalmyks were subjected to their first attack by the Kazakh detachment of Yaman-Kary, which was routed. Clashes between the Kalmyks and the Kazakhs occurred on the Or and Sagyz rivers, [19] Aiguvak suddenly attacked the Myk lands, men, women and children were killed a total of 130 people were taken prisoner, and a considerable number were also driven away cattle. [19] From March 18 to 23, there were a hundred new attacks by the Kazakhs, but already expect — The Kalmyks who gave them successfully repelled the attacks with heavy losses on both sides, the Kazakhs of the Junior Jüz did not go further decided on open military clashes. [19] [20]

On April 12, a 7,000-strong corps under the command of Traubenberg set out from the Orsk Fortress (now part of Orenburg Oblast). Detachments from some other cities also set out, but their actions were unsuccessful due to late response and lack of supplies. [3] On April 15 to 18th, the Kalmyks passed the Mugodzhar Mountains (now Aktobe Region) and later along the Turgai River — few days later on May 13, von Traubenberg decided to cease the pursuit of Ubashi and return to the Ust-Uysk Fortress.[ citation needed ]

Arkandar raided and stole supplies and such from the Kalmyks, but they had spotted him and defeated him — killing him in battle. [11] Janatai Batyr, upon learning of his brother's death, had retaliated with his forces of five hundred men raided the Kalmyks camp, where 10,000 warriors were resting, all of the Kazakh raiders had been killed with a large amount of casualty on the Kalmyks as well. [11]

At the Karaganda Region, the Kazakhs again attacked the Kalmyks. In this battle, the Kazakh militia of Ablai Khan numbered about 50,000 horsemen. [2] After this, the Kalmyks began to bypass Lake Balkhash from the north. In August, the Kalmyks reached the Chinese border on the Ili River. Ubashi's uluses were so weakened and exhausted that they could only await the mercy of the Chinese Emperor Qianlong. With that the Kalmyks were accepted as Chinese subjects on July 24. [21] [22]

Aftermath

Monument to the return of the Torghuts in Korla, Xinjiang, PRC. Statue of Khan Ubashi in front and memorial tower behind. Photography credits to Eric Feng. Dong Gui Ying Xiong Ji Nian Ta .jpg
Monument to the return of the Torghuts in Korla, Xinjiang, PRC. Statue of Khan Ubashi in front and memorial tower behind. Photography credits to Eric Feng.

Emperor Qianlong was pleased with the Torghuts’ migration, and claimed in a poem that all the Mongols had now became his vassals. Those Torghuts who had lived on the banks of the Volga since 1630 referred to the newcomers who had fled to them after the destruction of the Dzungar khanate as the New Torghuts. The Qing authorities ahad split them into New and Old Torghut banners, with appointing zasags from among them after the precedent of the Mongol commanders. [23] Ubashi obtained the honoured title of khan and was appointed the head of the League of the Ten Old Torghut Banners, while his subordinate chiefs received such honorary titles as "Qinnwang", "Junwang", "beile", "beise", "gong", first-class "tayiji". [23] [24]

Reference

  1. 1 2 Adle, Chahryar; Habib, Irfan; Baipakov, Karl M., eds. (2003). History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Vol. 5: Development in Contrast: From the Sixteenth to the Mid-Nineteenth Century. UNESCO Publishing. p. 152. ISBN   978-92-3-103876-1.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Очерки истории Калмыцкой АССР. Дооктябрьский период". kalmyki.narod.ru. Москва: Наука. 1967. Archived from the original on 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Иакинф (Бичурин). "Историческое обозрение ойратов или калмыков". Archived from the original on 2020-02-21. Retrieved 2016-01-19.
  4. 1 2 3 4
  5. 1 2 3 4
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 ЭСБЕ/Калмыки
  7. 1 2 3 4
  8. 1 2 "«Пыльный поход»". Акмолинская правда (in Russian). 2013-09-20. Archived from the original on 2021-06-21. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  9. ↑ "Шаңды жорық — Қазақстан Энциклопедиясы" [Dusty campaign — Encyclopedia of Kazakhstan]. Archived from the original on 2021-06-25. Retrieved 2017-06-04.
  10. ↑ "КАЛМЫЦКОЕ ХАНСТВО • Большая российская энциклопедия - электронная версия". old.bigenc.ru. Archived from the original on 2023-01-23. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
  11. 1 2 3 Книга о истории Казахстана: Эпоха обретения границ[Book on the History of Kazakhstan: The Era of Gaining Borders] (in Russian). Алматы. 2015.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. ↑ Чимитдоржиев Ш. Б. (2002). Национально-освободительное движение монгольского народа в XVII-XVIII вв. IMBT. p. 218. ISBN   978-5-7925-0126-3. Archived from the original on 2022-11-27.
  13. ↑ Perdue 2009, p.  285.
  14. ↑ Clarke 2004, p. 37.
  15. ↑ Charayar, Adle (2003). History of civilizations of Central Asia, v. 5 (5th ed.). Adle Charayar. p. 152. ISBN   978-92-3-103876-1.
  16. 1 2 "Ubashi Khan: To Judge Is Impossible to Forgive".{{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  17. ↑ В.И., Колесник. Последнее великое кочевье[The last great nomadism.] (in Russian). В.И. Колесник. p. 200.
  18. ↑ В.И., Колесник. Последнее великое кочевье[The last great nomadism.] (in Russian). В.И. Колесник. p. 201.
  19. 1 2 3 4 "Letters of the Kazakh Khan Nurali to the Orenburg Governor I.A. Reinsdorp during the Kalmyk migration to Dzungaria. 1770–1771". Восточная литература (Eastern Literature).{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  20. ↑ Митиров, А. Г. (1998). "Калмыцко-казахские отношения в период откочевки калмыков из России в Китай в 1771 г.". Ойраты-калмыки: века и поколения[Kalmyk-Kazakh Relations During the Kalmyk Migration from Russia to China in 1771] (in Russian). Элиста: Калмыцкое книжное издательство.
  21. ↑ "Судьба калмыцкого ханства после «пыльного похода» в XVIII веке" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-07-19. Retrieved 2023-07-19.
  22. ↑ "Торгутский побег: цена возвращения". Archived from the original on 2023-07-19. Retrieved 2023-07-19.
  23. 1 2 "Chapter 101". 欽定外藩蒙古回部王公表傳 (Qinding waifan Menggu Huibu wanggong biaozhuan)[Imperially Commissioned Genealogical Tables and Biographies of Mongol and Muslim Princes and Dukes of the Outer Domains] (in Chinese). 1795.
  24. ↑ Miyawaki, Junko (1995). "The Qalqa Mongols and the Oyirad in the Seventeenth Century". Journal of Asian History. 28 (2): 234–245.
  1. 1 2 3 4 Но встречается и резко другая точка зрения насчет числа дошедших калмыков, к примеру современные казахские источники оценивают число дошедших в 15-20 тысяч. [8] [9]
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